“I came early because I feel this election is very important to reward the officials that worked for Iraq’s unity and reject sectarianism,” said Ghania Aboud Jasim, 60, after she voted. “I am here trying to change the situation of my country.”

Today Rich Lowry notes how in our bizarro world we are bailing out GM and Chrysler, while also “punishing” them by allowing California to set their own fuel standards on them.

Even California admits that the new strictures will add $1,000 to the cost of vehicles by 2016. (The carmakers estimate $3,000.) So, GM and Chrysler will struggle to shed labor and legacy costs – just to see new regulatory costs imposed on them by the very political authorities that are putting taxpayer dollars at risk to save them.

Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal notes

the American industry takes a hit on the cheaper, lighter cars it manufactures at its high-cost unionized plants to comply with CAFE. It makes such cars profitably overseas and could import them back here to the US to meet CAFE standards – if Congress didn’t forbid it from doing so in a naked pander to the United Auto Workers.